Nutritionist South Portland ME

Local resource for evaluating nutritionists in South Portland. Includes detailed information on local businesses that provide access to nutritionists, meal plans, portion control and nutrition programs, as well as advice on eating disorders and weight loss.

Eating Disorders

What are eating disorders?

Eating disorders are real illnesses that can affect how we eat and how we feel about food. They can be treated to help people who have them have healthy and full lives. From time to time, we all change our eating habits. Sometimes we reduce the amount of food we eat or go on a diet to shed some pounds, or we eat more to gain weight. These can be healthy ways to control or reach our ideal body weight. But, people who have eating disorders have unhealthy ways, or patterns, of eating. They may eat too much and become overweight, or way too little and become very thin.

Sometimes a person can eat so little, or nothing at all, they actually begin to starve (called anorexia nervosa). A person can also eat an extreme amount of food all at once and then do things like vomit to rid the body of food (called bulimia nervosa). And, a person may not be able to control the need to overeat, often keeping it a secret (called binge eating disorder). People can also have wrong ideas, or misperceptions, of their body weight. People with eating disorders can feel certain they weigh too much, even though they may be well under the ideal body weight for a person their size.

Eating disorders affect people of all ages, race, and income levels. But, these disorders affect women much more than they do men. Women make up more than 90% of people with these disorders. Without treatment, an eating disorder can take over a person's life and cause serious illness and death. These disorders can increase risk for osteoporosis (thinning of the bones) and heart problems. People who have eating disorders can also have depression and anxiety, and may turn to alcohol and drugs for relief.

Experts Note Rise In Compulsive Eating

Experts in psychology and nutrition, it was reported in mid-December 2005, have noted a significant increase in compulsive eating. They claim that in the United States, our fixation on weight is making the disorder more prevalent. The number of support groups for people whose lives are controlled by food has grown sharply in recent years. Since 1998, the number of support groups hosted by Food Addicts has risen from 20 to 300 nationwide. Overeaters Anonymous, which was started back in 1960, now has more than 4,300 meetings.

Binge-eating disorder is more prevalent than anorexia or bulimia, according to the National Association of Anorexia and Associated Disorders. A study by the American Psychiatric Assn. in the year 2000 suggested that between 0.7% and 4% of the population had the disorder, but researchers think the actual figure is much higher.

Who is at risk for eating disorders?

In the United States and other Western countries, women are more at risk for eating disorders than are men. These disorders affect 8 to 10 times more women than men. In the U.S., it was thought that eating disorders affected mostly white women. But, recent research has shown that black women are affected as well. One study found that black women were more likely than white women to have repeated episodes of binge eating disorder. This may put black women more at risk for obesity (being overweight)...

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